Van Waning, West High Win Titles at Eastern Iowa Classic
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
CEDAR RAPIDS – West High didn’t make any major changes in the days leading up to the Eastern Iowa Classic.
There was a slight switch in the way the Trojan’s prepared for Thursday’s meet.
“It was a little different preparation,” West High sophomore Kate Van Waning said. “We prepared to win this.”
That preparation paid off from Van Waning and West High on Thursday.
Van Waning won the first individual title of her career and 4A No. 18 West High rolled to the team title at the seven-team meet at Seminole Valley Cross Country Course in Cedar Rapids.
“We talked as a team about winning this meet and that kind of my boosted my confidence coming in,” Van Waning said. “It felt good to get this win.”
Van Waning headlined a trio of West High finishers in the top 10 as the Trojans finished with 42 points.
Class 4A No. 20 Linn-Mar was runner-up with 64 points, 3A No. 11 Marion was third with 85 points 3A No. 17 Center Point-Urbana was fourth with 102 points.
Class 1A fourth-ranked Regina finished fifth with 144 points.
“We won this meet two years ago and it’s in the middle part of the season where we are going to take a little rest before we really charge going home,” West High coach Mike Parker said. “It’s really good for us, it’s a course we really like so it’s always one that comes at a great point for us to see where we are at.”
Van Waning entered the Class 4A individual rankings this week, landing at No. 19.
On Thursday the sophomore standout ran like a ranked runner while earning the first individual title of her career.
“When you get that ranking, you were still that good a week ago but when you see that number it reaffirms so she wanted to come and run as a ranked runner and you could see the result,” Parker said. “I thought she ran really well right from the beginning.”
Van Waning ran alone at the front of the pack from most of the race.
She won the individual title in 19:10.58, finishing more than 16 seconds in front of Addison Dabroski of Marion who was runner-up in 19:27.02.
“I felt good, it definitely felt different than my other races, I have never been the lead of the pack before but I just trusted my confidence,” Van Waning said. “I kind of pretended there was no one else in the race and I ran my own race and today it worked out.”
Senior Cindy Wang finished seventh for West High in a time of 20:03.16 and Kalli Titus was ninth in 20:20.56.
Susanna Olson placed 12th in 20:23.34 and Erinn Varga finished 13th in 20:24.48 for the Trojans.
“This was a mirror of our practice when we look at our three, four and five they were side by side the whole way through,” Parker said. “Those five ladies they all did their part to help us win today.”
Eastern Iowa Classic
At Seminole Valley Cross Country Course
Team scores – 1. West High 42; 2. Linn-Mar 64; 3. Marion 85; 4. Center Point-Urbana 102; 5. Regina 144; 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 144; 7. Cedar Rapids Washington 162
Individual leaders – 1. Kate Van Waning (ICW) 19:10.58; 2. Addison Dabroski (MAR) 19:27.02; 3. Hailey Kozloski (L-M) 19:42.42; 4. Grace Estling (CP-U) 19:43.58; 5. Haddie LeVake (CRW) 19:48.18; 6. Emma Wilkerson (CP-U) 19:56.81; 7. Cindy Wang (ICW) 20:03.16; 8. Ally Buck (L-M) 20:17.78; 9. Kalli Titus (ICW) 20:20.56; 10. Makenna Hetrick (CRW) 20:21.67; 11. Alyssa Brandt (CRK) 20:22.73; 12. Susanna Olson (ICW) 20:23.34; 13. Erinn Varga (ICW) 20:24.48; 14. Lillian Cogdill (CRK) 20:28.64; 15. AudryElla Meyer (MAR) 20:40.49
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